2018-2019 Homeschool Week 17 Notes and Reading

Saturday Notes:
We started the day with Caleb's baptismal service. There were a few hiccups and we actually weren't sure even 15 minutes before the start if we would be cancelling his baptism and rescheduling for another day, but it all worked out and was wonderful! We got a quick family picture and I shared it in my last post but here it is again.

After that we were able to pick up our van from the shop with only a minor car repair bill ($202). Makayla was my partner in crime for grocery shopping this week, in the rain for all 3 stops (Kroger to use a gift card, Aldi for the bulk of our grocery shopping, and Wal  Mart for a few specific items). In the evening we had a fun family home evening and decorated our Christmas tree. With Rebekah being 9 months old and walking we really couldn't use any ornaments  with hooks for her to choke on. Instead we used flower picks and glittery gold tulle. I think my entire family and home will be glittery for the next three months, but the tree was simple and beautiful. The kids love having the tree up!

Sunday Notes:
Today felt like spring in December. The weather was sunny and 60F. Church was great; it was Fast Sunday and testimony meeting. The afternoon at home afterwards was quiet and relaxing with windows open everywhere. In the evening family came by to celebrate Emma's upcoming birthday. She's a huge Marvel fan and her gifts often reflected that.

Monday Notes:
This was the first Monday in over 2 months that did not have a single doctor appointment scheduled. It was glorious! The morning was filled with homeschooling. New math lessons abounded, spelling happened, writing, science, and more. Right after lunch we finished up the day with history. By this point the house smelled delicious from the chili in the crock pot and I baked a pan of cornbread to go along with the soup for our dinner. The rest of the day was family time and projects.

Tuesday Notes:
My morning started with Rebekah waking up at 5am. I convinced her to go back to sleep just in time for Tobias to wake up at 5:30am. At that point I gave up on sleeping. My favorite part of the morning was watching kids help one another with homeschool lessons. Several kids had new writing projects in The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. Makayla worked on a nature poem a la Emily Dickenson, Joseph wrote about the things he learned about work from a book he read, Daniel wrote the introductory paragraph for an essay on Asia.

In history today we were talking about the Second Continental Congress. We went from room to room finding papers that told some of the events between  1774 and 1776. We found John Hancock's signature on the Declaration of Independence. We read a letter George Washington wrote to his wife upon being chosen as the commander of the army. We read some of the Declaration of Independence itself.

The afternoon held our weekly piano lessons.

Wednesday Notes:
School, working teen, more school after work, trigonometry that may drive us batty yet, spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, and Cub Scouts.

Thursday Notes:
It was a laid back, hang out around the house, do the schooling, and a bit of food shopping kind of day. Nothing exciting, nothing terribly difficult. We tried a new cookie bar recipe that was simple and yummy:

• 1 box cake mix (we used chocolate)
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• Mix it all and  bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes. I did need to add a bit of water to mine when mixing, it was just way too dry. I probably put in 1/2 cup of water. 

Friday Notes:

I finished reading the Book of Mormon again today! It was such a neat experience reading and looking for all the verses that talk about Christ. I wrote my own notes for every single chapter as I went, something I've never done before. I liked it so much I'm going to do the same thing for the Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants, starting tomorrow with the New Testament. 

Everyone was enthusiastic for the weekend, which holds two Christmas parties, and got right to work on school. At one point I was helping three kids with math while parsing Latin sentences with Makayla and listening to another child reading from their All About Reading lesson. It's always fun!

The rest of our day includes cousins visiting, Joseph heading out for a winter campout with the Boy Scouts, baking cookie bars for tomorrow's Christmas party, and a family movie. 

All About Reading Update

I have four kids using All About Reading and it's a great example of one reason I love homeschooling. My kids have all learned to read fluently at different ages, from as young as age 3 (picked up chapter  books on their own, no teaching from me) to reaching fluency around age 9/10. So here are the updates on where my current learning to read kids are at.

I realized yesterday that my Fourth grader Oliver, age 9.5, is nearing the end of All About Reading level 3 with only 3 lessons to go. He can read easy chapter books slowly. He just finished the third My Fathers Dragon book and picked up Bunnicula as his next literature book. We looked at the things taught in All About Reading level 4, which we don't own yet, and decided that he would benefit from it. That means I need to order level 4. It's $120 and completely reusable for the younger kids. He will continue reading books for fun outside his AAR materials, but will do the AAR lessons to fill in the gaps for phonograms he has not mastered yet, like ui, ough, and gn. 

My Second grader Caleb, just turned age 8, is in All About Reading level 2. He is not reading fluently at all. He sounds out most words still, but is comprehending the stories as he does. He is on lesson 29 and will just keep moving along at his pace with lots of practice. I have no idea when his fluency will kick in yet. He doesn't have to hurry ahead, we can go at his pace.  

My First grader Mason, age 6/turning 7 next month, hit fluency a month or so ago. He is sounding out few words in his level, reading from books outside of school time, and things are clicking. He is now on the exact same lesson as Caleb, All About Reading level 2 lesson 29, and will pass him up next week. We will fly through the level at his pace. He doesn't have to slow down and wait for others to be ready to move ahead.

My Kindergartener Samuel, age 5, is in All About Reading level 1 lesson 18. He is a wiggly boy who loves the games/activities of All About Reading. He is picking up the phonics at his own pace and would rather play than sit for lessons. I'm able to keep lessons short, sprinkle them through the morning, and emphasize the active reading games he loves. 

These are my 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th children. Each is going at the pace right for them. All of them love books and stories. They read, have people read to them, listen to audio books, and just enjoy it. My goal is to come out the other side of the learning to read journey with kids who love reading and who are adults who still love reading years later.